This post was supposed to be up by the end of July, however, I have no idea why it didn’t go up.

Anyway, here it is:

About a month ago, I was randomly walking around Mirdif City Centre when the SALE sign at Centre point caught my attention. I have no idea why but I ended up going to the NYX counter and buying these the Soft Matte Cream in San Palo and Round Lipstick in Heredes

I didn’t even to swatch the Soft Matte Lip Cream as they didn’t have a tester for it. Plus the fact that this was the last piece available made my need to buy it even stronger. FML!

Anyway, when I finally got around to using it, it was a lighter than I expected it to be. I don’t generally wear berry toned lip colours but this colour looked amazing on me. In addition, I loved the finishing…it was the perfect matte finish and it didn’t even dry out my lips unlike the ones from MAC.

Needless to say, I was super impressed with the quality. I googled the company and found out so many excellent reviews about their products. It was during this time when I came to know about their 40% off 4th of July Sale. I was super excited! First of all their products are super cheap and 40% off on American prices is like pennies for us Dubai-walas (since we pay higher retail prices in a “tax-free” country). However, there was an minor issue – they “officially” deliver to UAE via MYUS, a freight forwarder which is ridiculously expensive. Funny how during this time, I was informed that my favourite freight forwarder service, MyBox, has started shipping cosmetics, liquids and stuff without any extra charges! I think this was a strong sign that I should place an order.
So I went to the site with a plan to spend only $25 to qualify for free US shipping thinking that even if things go wrong, I would not even feel bad. By now you might have realized that my plans never work and so I ended up spending more than I initially planned to…. $45.90 to be exact after much self control.

Honestly speaking, I would have spent more if the site was not as slow as my maid (we still love her though). People on Facebook where complaining of items disappearing from their cart and payments not going through. Fortunately, I didn’t have any such problems and my order went through smoothly.

I placed my order on the 4th of July 2014 and they shipped out my order the 9th of July 2014. It took Fedex and USPS 8 days to deliver my package from their warehouse in California to my freight forwarder in New Jersey which I thought was ridiculous. My packages arrive from US to UAE faster than that and that is exactly what happened. I received my package here on the 22nd of July and I only paid AED 30 for delivery as my package was under half a kilogram. *Does the monkey dance*

Here is the summary:

Order date: 4th of July 2014

Shipping Date: 9th of July 2014

Delivery to US address: 17th of July 2014

Delivery to my UAE address: 22nd of July 2014

This is the box it came in….awesome custom should learn a lesson in opening packages. They literally butchered the box while checking the contents -.-

Customs, why you no understand what fragile means?

The signature green bubble wrap

Can we have a moment of silence for this pretty lace drawstring bag?

I have never seen an online company packaging their stuff in such a pretty manner. It’s not much but these little things do count to the overall brand impression

Here is what I got:

Three more Soft Matte Lip Creams:

I wanted the ones in Ibiza and Morocco as well but they were sold out 😥

The much raved about mosaic powder in Highlighter

See how gorgeous it is?

I love orange and I lost my favourite blush in the whole wide world, MAC Stereo Rose, recently (Never mind, I found it! :D) and I just felt the need to buy a blush to make up for it.

Bought this Butter Gloss in Peach Cobbler because of the amazing reviews and it smells divine! Will definitely pick more of these

My sister got the foundation and primer….she has been loving the primer. I must tell you that the texture and feel of the primer is out of this world. I would definitely pick up more of these primers..

I was planning to buy the wonder stick in all the three colours but bought just one mainly to line the eyes or lips. As you can see, I already used about half of it. The color match was good over the summer but now, it has gotten too dark for me.

Nyx Pencil in Dark

I got a slim lip liner pencil in Nectar as a freebie! Perfect match for my lipstick! 😀

I am so impressed with the quality of the items I received for the price I paid. In total, I paid AED 204.85 (including delivery to UAE) for 11 items (including 1 freebie) which is not bad at all!

Funny how I now prefer these lip creams over my YSL lipsticks. I would definitely buy more from this company!

Rating: 10/10

Recommendation: The soft matte lip creams are a cult favourite. You just can’t go wrong for the price.

DISCLAIMER: This is not a sponsored review. I purchase the mentioned product/s with my own money and the opinion stated here are that of my own.